Oscar Performance stars in Transylvania, meet's opening scene
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland will waste little time in showcasing a parade of Grade 1-caliber horses at its spring meet when Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Oscar Performance makes his return as the favorite Friday in the Transylvania Stakes, the traditional opening-day feature of the spring meet.
Nine 3-year-olds were entered in the Grade 3, $150,000 Transylvania, a 1 1/16-mile turf race that also attracted Ticonderoga, a sharp winner of the Grade 3 Palm Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park last out. The Transylvania is carded as the ninth of 10 Friday races.
Oscar Performance, trained by Brian Lynch, got a short break after his victory Nov. 5 in the BC Juvenile Turf before resuming training at the Palm Meadows training center in south Florida. Since early February, the Kitten’s Joy ridgling shows nine recorded works, the last five over turf, with the latest being a half-mile breeze last Friday in 50.60 seconds.
Ticonderoga has the benefit of a race since finishing a late-running fourth in the BC Juvenile Turf. He was among the 18 horses to arrive here recently for trainer Chad Brown, who expects to have about 32 here within the next week or so.
Ticonderoga is “one of those horses that really seems to have matured from 2 to 3,” said Brown, who was on hand on an overcast Monday morning. “That was a real nice win for him at Gulfstream. We’re excited about the year ahead of him.”
From the rail, this is the Transylvania field: Profiteer, Makarios, Big Score, Oscar Performance, Ticonderoga, Sonic Boom, Dahog, Cowboy Culture, and Holiday Stone.
The 15-day meet is expected to start amid chilly and possibly damp conditions, with overnight lows near freezing and daytime highs in the low 50s on Friday. A gradual warm-up is forecast for the rest of the three-day opening weekend, with sun and a high of 62 predicted for Saturday, Blue Grass Stakes Day, and a high of 71 for Sunday.
Weather aside, enthusiasm abounds here not only because of the top-class horses who will compete here this month but also for the record purses to be paid. Keeneland racing secretary Ben Huffman projects per-day purses of $735,000, an all-time high helped along by the Instant Racing machines that became operational last fall at the nearby Red Mile.
“We’re all really excited around here,” Huffman said.
The meet highlight is the Grade 2, $1 million Blue Grass Stakes, one of five graded races set for Saturday. At least seven 3-year-olds were expected for the 1 1/8-mile Blue Grass when entries were drawn Tuesday, led by McCraken, Tapwrit, and Practical Joke.
The other Saturday stakes are the Grade 1 Ashland, Grade 1 Madison, Grade 2 Shakertown, and Grade 3 Commonwealth. The last of seven opening-weekend stakes comes Sunday with the Grade 3 Beaumont.
Mark Casse, a three-time leading trainer at Keeneland, has a strong hand in the Ashland, even with Valadorna having defected over the weekend due to injury. Casse will run the uncoupled pair of Pretty City Dancer and Summer Luck.
Keeneland will operate on a Wednesday-through-Sunday schedule through April 28, with April 16 dark for the Easter holiday. First post daily is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.
◗ Business at the winter-spring meet that ended Saturday night at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky was up marginally, according to figures released Monday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
All-sources wagering for the 46-day meet that began Jan. 1 totaled $70,230,774, up 2.3 percent over the $68.6 million bet at the corresponding 46-day meet in 2016. The per-card average was $1,526,756.
